ESPN's Louis Riddick Blames Poor Defensive Scheme for Late Collapse by Bills

Riddick won't let overtime rules be an excuse for poor defensive schemes by Buffalo.

It was a wild divisional-round weekend across the NFL, capped by an unbelievable fourth quarter in Sunday's AFC game between the Chiefs and Bills.

Fans across the sport on social media were quick to blame NFL overtime rules and the defenses being “gassed” as the primary reason for Buffalo's fourth-quarter and overtime collapse.

ESPN analyst Louis Riddick had a different take on the matter and posted his thoughts on Monday morning after reviewing the film.

Watch All-22 of the last KC offensive series in regulation/Q4 with 13 seconds on the clock, and tell me with a straight face that Buffalo allowed Kelce and Cheetah the two big completions because they were “gassed”…WRONG. It was poor strategy/scheme on Buffalo’s part. Period.

— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) January 24, 2022

On the final drive of regulation, with the Chiefs trailing 36–33, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes took command of the offense from his own 25-yard line with 13 seconds to play and all three timeouts. He promptly hit speedster Tyreek Hill for a 19-yard pass-and-catch to the K.C. 44 with eight seconds remaining.

After a quick timeout, Mahomes fired another dart to tight end Travis Kelce for 25 yards, setting up a 49-yard field goal try for one of the game's best kickers, Harrison Butker.

Butker, who has made a shade over 90% of his field-goal tries this season, completed the improbable scoring drive with a made field goal to send the game to overtime.

We all know what happened from there.

Kansas City won the coin toss, and marched right down the field for a game-winning touchdown, sparking incessant debates on social media regarding the NFL's questionable overtime rules.

Riddick wasn't a fan of those critics either.

Play better defense. Don’t cry about the rules.

— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) January 24, 2022

The tweet following the game last night caught some heat on Twitter, but his comments about the play of the defense held true following the “All-22” highlight of the final drive in regulation for the Chiefs. 

Riddick just hopes that fans hold NFL defenses as accountable as NFL offenses moving forward.

Defensive coaches/players…we have to do better man. Listening to all of the talk today, you would think that football is just quarterbacks and offense, and everything else is second fiddle.I love entertaining football, but I don’t like seeing defense being disrespected.

— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) January 24, 2022

There's no doubt that fan assessment skews towards the play of offenses and quarterbacks, but as the mantra goes, “defense wins championships.”

While sure to be unpopular, Riddick's take on the game is the correct one—the play of the defense down the stretch cost the Bills a chance at the AFC championship game.